After the Nazareth Area School District had to cancel school on Thursday because some township roads were impassable, Belvidere-based Rodota Trucking & Excavating delivered 80-plus tons about 6:30 p.m. Thursday to the township, which had run out of road salt, the trucking company and township Manager Brian Harris said today.

Township road crews went out immediately and salted roads that plowing and the February sun didn't clear, Harris said.

"For the most part, they're much better," Harris said.

There was no delay today in the Nazareth district.

This afternoon, another Northampton County municipality out of salt to melt snow and ice finally got a delivery, as well. Pen Argyl public works Director Steve Bender accepted a 22-ton delivery from International Salt.

A dozen county municipalities filed disaster declarations in order to have the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency help secure salt from International Salt, their vendor, county officials said.

Of 38 municipalities in the county, 16 were reporting today they are in need of salt, county emergency management services said.

Bushkill Township filed its salt order Jan. 24, and delivery was contractually expected within five to seven days. But demand, low supplies and, yes, winter weather kept the vendor and trucking company from delivering, said Mary Kay Warner, a marketing manager at International Salt.

Harris said the township is "absolutely" relieved the supply has arrived and that this weekend's storm is not expected to be serious.

While the township was negotiating for this week's delivery, it also put in another order for 200 tons, he said.

The township will have a new salt storage facility as soon as the weather relents enough to pour the new concrete floor, Harris said. The township will be able to store up to 800 tons of salt in the three-bay, metal building, he said. It currently can only store 200 tons, he had said.

"We're excited," he said about the new building.

As for the impact of this winter on the township's budget, Harris admitted, "At this point I can't even say for certain."

Pen Argyl put its order in Jan. 21, borough Manager Robin Zmoda said, and was expecting 50 tons either Thursday or today.

Before the delivery came in about 2 p.m., the borough had basically no salt left, she said.

"I told the guy I assigned it to (to) make sure at all cost it gets there," said Bob Hummer Jr., of Rodota Trucking & Excavating. "I always try to service the small towns with no storage ASAP."

Hummer's trucks waited more than three hours in line for salt Thursday at the International depot in Morrisville, Pa -- although "it's the same at any salt facility," he said. That makes it hard to make money, Hummer said, because the haulers are paid by the weight, not the time it takes to pick up the salt and deliver it.

"We're actually making less money this season and some days I'm at a loss," he wrote. "You wait three-plus hours for a load that pays $90 and still have to deliver it, you're in the red."

He added that he schedules numerous loads each day and "on paper, it works out, but when the lines are very long, the drivers can't complete the assignment. There's not much any salt company can do. ... It's just the demand for the salt."

He said he has 30,000 tons in open orders to deliver and that it will take a week or two of better weather for his company to get back on track.